Dedicated To All My Married Friends (FB Note 2012)

 

(Coming across this poem now that I'm married, just blew me away! LMAO!)

Once upon a time…

 

Once upon a time, I let you win,

I let my youth, my insecurity let you be.

He is mine, he always was, but once upon a time…

 

Once upon a time I let you win.

I let you take what was mine and I didn’t fight you.

That was the rightful way to be, that’s what a lady does…

 

Once upon a time I tasted heaven,

Lived out all my dreams combined in his kiss,

But my youth and my morality had to let you win…

 

I’m a lady, I don’t speak too loudly or lose my cool,

But those many years ago, I wished that I was not, just a little,

Just so you could maybe appreciate what you had.

A real man.

 

But so much stood in my way and I let you win.

 

Once upon a time, I was the other woman,

The dirty old mistress who didn’t have rights to his heart,

The side-piece who only got your leftovers,

 

Once upon a time I was the other woman.

 

But today is a different story, today I’m a different person,

I know myself all too well, and I know exactly what it is that I want.

 

Once upon a time, I wasn’t ready to die for my dreams,

But unfortunately for both of us, today I am. I honestly truly am,

And no matter what it takes, I will win.

 

Owami, ngiyamthanda, ngizomfela if you don’t realise what you have,

A good, honest, gentle, humble, faithful and honest man.

You have to decide because even as I write this, akayena owami,

 

But asizile ukuzodla la, we are both women and we both need love,

Mina engik’shoyo kuwena dadewethu is that, unless you realise it,

Uzolahlakelwa izulu nomhlaba ngoba ungazibon’ indlela obusiseke ngayo,

 

I am in no ways a predator, I’m just a simple woman,

I love, I need to also be loved and appreciated in return.

 

Because once upon a time, I was the other woman.

A dirty little secret, the favourite ‘secret’ part of his day,

But that was not how my mother raised me, I am worthy of love.

 

But once upon a time, I was the other woman,

But today, today I’ve got my foot firmly in the door,

And unlike you, I’m not about to let a very good man go,

 

Once upon a time, I was the other woman,

 

But today, today I want to be you.

I want to be a wife, I want to be the one he adores.

I want to be the one he loves more than his own happiness.

 

 

Once upon a time I was the other woman,

I know what it feels like to spend Christmas alone,

Because the nagging wife and kids need him there,

 

Today I want to surprise him on his birthday,

To have rights, no longer be the fun dirty little secret,

I want to be you,

 

At any point, if you let your guard down, slip,

I’ll be there. Beautiful, smart, well groomed, available.

And I will, if you let me, take what’s yours without a thought.

 

Once upon a time I was the other woman,

I know the loneliness, I know the rush followed by humiliation,

It's lonely, it's hard, it's cold and it's never enough for any real woman,

I for one should know, coz once upon a time...

I was once after all, the other woman.